Ohio: George W. Bush

Presidents wake up every day wondering whether terrorists will attack Americans and whether they will be judged to have failed to protect the homeland if that happens.

Presidents make decisions.

Members of Congress make speeches.

Is that unfair? Perhaps a little. Presidents can hem and haw and speechify with the best of them, and lawmakers sometimes take courageous, politically unpopular stands and cast votes that could cost them their jobs come the next election.

But being president has to be, no contest, the loneliest job in the world -- just look at the way they age (see the before and after photos of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as recent examples) during their time in the White House.

The sad, pathetic attempt to try to gin up sympathy for Rush Limbaugh is beyond absurd.  First of all, all the Obama White House has ever said is that Congressional Republicans need to realize that they need to stop listening to Limbaugh and start working with the White House and Congressional Democratic leaders if they want to be heard.  They haven't threatened Rush with rendition, or audited him, or revealed his confidential psychiatric files, or even threatened to take him off the air.  They haven't actually attacked Rush beyond suggesting that a radio talk show host is probably not suited to be the face, voice, and leadership of the Republican Party.

I started wondering after reading the Blade article where UT Provost Rosemary Haggett is quoted related to Higher Ed Holdings dropping out of discussions to help the University of Toledo provide a two online master’s degree programs in the UT College of Education:

It was still early in the conversations and the fact that the company had to back out at this stage “reflects poorly on our university” because they could not have a reasonable dialogue about the proposal, Ms. Haggett wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to the college of education staff.

“What could have been a truly compelling dialogue about opportunities to broaden the number of graduate education students benefiting from the expertise of College of Education faculty was never allowed to get under way by those who would seek to demonize those that disagree with them rather than debate what is best for the institution in a thoughtful and professional way,” the provost wrote.

Appearing at a meeting of the nation's governors here, Strickland said that as the world's economies sink into recession, the "last thing we need right now is the kind of division and polarization" that would take place if the U.S. and its trading partners turned to import tariffs.

"It is absolutely not the time for a trade war," Strickland said. "So, in terms of what the president says publicly, he does need to be cautious and careful not to send a message that we are going to become an embattled, protectionist nation."

Although Strickland said he still believes "that we must and should in significant ways alter our trade policies to make them more even," his comments marked a clear shift in tone from his opposition to NAFTA as a member of the U.